He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not
by Julian McQueen
Summary: Asriel has a nightmare.


Asriel woke up, and he found himself in his father's kingdom.

The goat boy stood up, and saw the towering palace of his father before him, the stone almost as grey as the sky, as a chilling wind cut through him. Asriel looked around to find that the palace, and most likely the kingdom, was abandoned.

Confusion and fear began to well up inside him. "How did I get here?" He thought to himself. He should've been on the surface, with Frisk, his parents. He should've been far away from his place, this hell on Earth where he thought his nightmare would never end.

Yet, here he was, alone again, in this place devoid of hope, of light. He turned as he suddenly hear a voice call out to him withing the palace.

"Asriel." He heard his mother Toriel call out to him. "I love you."

Asriel slowly walked up to the front door of the palace, where a horrifying sight awaited him.

Lying before the front door, were the bodies two of his father's royal knights. They held hands as their corpses were surrounded by a pool of blood in the shape of a heart. Asriel put a hand to his mouth and shuddered, before he walked quickly into the palace.

"Asriel." He heard his mother Toriel call out to him again. "I can't find you?"

As he walked down the royal hall to his father's throne, he saw more corpses, recognizing them as he moved on.

Undyne, his father's general, was impaled onto the wall by one of her own spears.

Alphys, the royal scientist, lied on the ground, pieces of what appeared to be a mechanical device of sorts were pushed into her body.

Sans, a close friend of Asgore, kneeled on the floor, holding the remains of his brother, Papyrus. Asriel called out to him , but he did not respond, as if the life suddenly left from his body and he was nothing.

"Asriel." He heard his mother Toriel call out to him again. "I miss you."

Asriel continued to move on towards the throne room. Why was everyone dead, where was Frisk. Who could've done such a horrific tragedy?

As Asriel entered the throne room, he noticed a large red coffin propped up next to the throne room, with a red heart inscribed on it. As Asriel went closer to the coffin, he saw that there was also an epitaph engraved under the red heart.

FRISK - THEY THOUGHT THEY COULD SAVE YOU

Asriel pried the coffin open and recoiled in fear at what he saw.

There was Frisk, or what he thought was Frisk. It's hard to recognize someone when their face is missing.

Asriel could barely breathe as he looked upon the mashed up face of Frisk, their hands folded across their stomach, right under the hole where their heart was cut out. Asriel shut the coffin as quickly as he could and stood there, sobbing for what felt like decades. He wanted to leave. He wanted to get out of here, but everyone was dead, they were all dead, again.

Everyone, but...

Where was mom, or dad?

"Asriel." He heard his mother Toriel call out to him again. "I'm dead."

Asriel panicked as he heard his mother call out to him, and he ran into the throne room, and it was what he saw that he finally screamed.

The bodies of Asgore and Toriel lied before the throne room, their blood painting the once yellow flowers red. Asgore had several real knives stabbed into him, a final look of agony and betrayal etched on his face. Toriel only had one knife, lodged in her right eye, as her body lied over her fallen king.

Asriel wailed as he fell to his knees, his parents, his friends, Frisk. They were all dead, again. They were all dead, and he could do nothing about it this time.

It was as he looked up that he finally looked up and saw someone sitting in his father's throne. Someone who looked much like Frisk, but smiled happily as they held a yellow flower in their hands.

Asriel was speechless as Chara sat on Asriel's throne, smiling and covered in blood.

"Hi."

Asriel stood there, trembling and speechless, as he stared at the fallen child. He tried to speak, to ask why, but the words were too scared to escape his mouth.

Chara looked down to the flower in their hands. "You know, I always thought you loved me, brother."

Asriel said nothing, but a look of guilt was mixed with his fearful expression.

Chara's feet swayed, occasionally their foot knocking against Asgore's horn. "I thought that, upon my death, you would destroy my village, as you promised."

Chara looked up at Asriel, their eyes wide, their smile even wider.

"BUT YOU REFUSED."

Finally, Asriel found the courage to speak. "I-It was wrong, you were wrong!" Asriel explained himself. "I don't know what happened to you, to make you like... this. But it doesn't-"

"I'm starting to wonder if you even love me anymore, brother..." Chara looked back down at the flower, twirling it between their fingers. "Because I have LOVE for you..."

Asriel's eyes welled up with tears, the idea that Asriel hated them was too much. Asriel began walking towards Chara, only to stop after a few paces after as Chara presented the flower to his brother.

To Asriel's horror, the flower had Asriel's face, sobbing and pitiful, on it. "Flowey..." Chara whispered.

Chara turned the flower to face them, and smiled. "I think there's ONE way to fine out..." They muttered, gripping one of Flowey's petals with their thumb and forefinger.

Asriel's body tensed up, fearing what would happen if he-

Chara plucked the petal off. "He loves me..."

Asriel didn't even feel as his right arm was torn off. When he finally felt the burning pain in his stump, and he smelled the metallic scent of blood in his nostrils, did he realize what happened to him. Asriel howled in pain as he grasped his stump, kneeling to the ground. Chara glanced at Asriel's falling arm, and watched as it turned to dust.

"AAAAHHHHH! MY ARM, MY ARM! IT HUUUURRTTTSSS!"

Chara simply let out a short breath from their nostrils as they looked down at the flower. Asriel slowly stood up, his body trembling from the pain, tears and sweat dripping from his face as he tried to fight the pain. His eyes widened as he watched Chara pinch another of Flowey's petals.

"N-NO PLEASE NO-"

Asriel watched in horror as Chara plucked another petal off Flowey, causing Asriel's left leg to pop off and disintegrate. Asriel fell onto his back as his striped shirt quickly became stained with blood.

"...he LOVEs me not...

Asriel screamed again, the sound of his agony reverberated off the walls of the throne room. Chara didn't even bother watching Asriel struggle to switch between clutching what remained of his right arm, or his left leg. Instead, they simply pinched off another petal, tenderly, and Asriel's watched in horror as his arm was slowly stretched and torn off, flesh and sinew ripping, and bone cracking.

"No...nonononononononaaaaAAAAAUGH!"

"...he loves me..."

Chara looked up and placed a hand under their chin as they watched Asriel struggle, slipping and squirming in a puddle of his freshly spilled blood. His fur, once pure and fair as moonlight, was now stained red, and his cries were almost hoarse and unintelligible. Asriel looked at Chara, his eyes wide with terror and pain, bloodshot from his tears.

"I'M SORRY, CHARA! PLEASE STOP! I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY!" He screamed so hard that he began spat blood.

Chara nodded his head in acknowledgement, and grabbed another petal.

"I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M SORRY! I'M-"

"...he LOVEs me not..."

Asriel was silent as his final limb was gone. His scream was silent and his body still, the shock and pain finally driving him over the edge, his mind shut down, and his body was still.

Chara's smile faded as they saw Asriel lie there, helpless and silent. Disappointed and bored, they got up and approached Toriel's corpse. They bent down, pulling the knife out of her eye, and strutted over to where Asriel was lying. As they approached, Chara heard small sobs escape from the broken child. With a flick of their knife, the limbless body was pulled upright, and Asriel's eyes locked with Chara's.

Chara then presented the flower, now with only one petal and a similar expression of agony to Asriel's, before Asriel.

"Look. You both match."

Asriel could barely speak, his body felt weak, the pain from before wasn't even noticeable to him anymore, but the fear he felt was almost palpable. As Chara brandished the bloody knife, the goat boy could only cry, as Chara came closer, placing a trembling hand on Asriel's shoulder, and brought the knife up.

"P-Please." Asriel begged, his voice hoarse and almost unrecognizable from screaming his throat raw. "Don't k-kill me..."

Chara smiled warmly and lowered his face to Asriel's.

"Silly brother, SINCE WHEN WERE YOU THE ONE IN CONTROL?"

Toriel effortlessly continued to try and walk up her son, who was shuddering and shaking in his bed. She sat at the foot of his bed, a look of fear and concern on her face. She knew something like this was bound to happen, that Frisk's rescue of her son would have a price.

"Asriel." She call out to him. "I love you."

Asriel's head turned slightly, and he winced as he muttered something unintelligibly. Toriel scooted closer and tried again to wake her son.

"Asriel." She call out to him again. "I miss you."

Asriel suddenly began to seize up, a tear ran down the corner of his eye as his breathing became labored. "N-no..." He muttered. "Please..."

Toriel quickly grabbed his hand and stroked it. Whatever he was suffering, she was going to help him get through it, as his mother. "Asriel." She call out to him yet again. "I'm -."

Asriel screamed, violently and loud. Toriel was fell off the bed in shock and fell onto her bottom. She quickly got up, watching in horror as Asriel grabbed his right shoulder, his body flailing violently.

"AAAAHHHHH! MY ARM, MY ARM! IT HUUUURRTTTSSS!"

"Asriel..." Toriel muttered, her eyes welling up as he heard someone enter the room.

"Asriel?" Frisk entered the room, a look of concern on their face.

Toriel turned to Frisk. "It's… it's alright Frisk." She tried to lie, but her voice effortlessly gave it away. "I think Asriel is just having a nigh-"

"N-NO PLEASE NO-"

Asriel seized again, his arm rapidly switching between clutching his right shoulder and his left thigh. Frisk walked up to Asriel, they reached out to him, but Toriel stopped them. It was then that Asriel's left arm suddenly fell to his side.

"No...nonononononononaaaaAAAAAUGH!"

Now his face was wet with tears, his body kept seizing and flailing, his voice becoming hoarse and rough as he screamed his throat raw.

Frisk turned to Toriel. "DO SOMETHING!" They pleaded with her, shouting over Asriel's shrill cries.

Toriel quickly walked to Asriel and placed a hand on his head. "Shhh... Asriel..." She whispered, her voice almost drowned out from Asriel's screams. "We are here, we are here for you. You're not alone... We love you..." Tears ran down her face as she kissed his forehead.

Suddenly, Asriel stopped screaming, and his body went limp. Toriel let out a sigh and stood up again. She looked to Frisk and gave them a tired smile.

"I think it's over." She got up and headed out the door. "Frisk, I'm going to get Asriel some water. I'll be right back."

Frisk took over Toriel's spot on the bed, and watched Asriel's expression, a mixture of tension and fear, shift as he continued to dream. Frisk knew immediately why this was happening. Even though Asriel's soul was restored, fragments of Chara still remained from when they and Asriel combined. These fragments weren't powerful enough to control or manipulate Asriel like before, but they had enough power for Chara to manifest in Asriel's subconsciousness.

Frisk wanted to hope that Chara wasn't causing too much havoc for Asriel, but evidently that was the issue, and for the first time since they fell into the mountain…

Frisk didn't know how what they were going to do.

Toriel walked back into the bedroom, she handed Frisk a glass of water, and Frisk noticed the wet streaks of fur down her cheeks. "Did he wake up yet?" She asked, her voice slightly cracked.

Frisk shook their head, but as they did so, Asriel suddenly sat upright in his bed.

A small smile formed across Frisk's face, believing that Asriel woke up. "Hey, um... Y-You had a pretty bad nightmare there, bro-"

But his smile vanished as soon as he realized that the nightmare wasn't over, and Asriel didn't wake up. The goat boy sat up in his bed, his limbs limp against his sides, as more tears streamed down his face.

"P-Please." Asriel begged, his voice hoarse and almost unrecognizable from screaming his throat raw. "Don't k-kill me..."

Toriel placed her hands to her mouth, tears falling down her fingers, as Frisk finally decided to act.

 ***WAKE**

Frisk grabbed Asriel's shoulder and shook him roughly.

"ASRIEL, WAKE UP!"

It was then that Frisk's brother finally woke up, gasping for air as if he was underwater, grasping his chest as if he was stabbed with a blade. He saw Frisk and backed off, a look of sheer horror on his face.

"Asriel, it's me, FRISK." Frisk spoke cautiously.

Asriel took a few seconds to recognize his surroundings, realizing he was back at his room. He then looked down and saw his hands, and quickly wiggled his toes. It was then that he saw Toriel, and a whimpering smile grew on his face.

"M-Mom...?" He whispered faintly.

Toriel broke into a sob as she immediately hugged both her children. Frisk sighed in relief that Asriel was OK, but was slightly annoyed that he kept patting him on the face.

Still, the three of them decided to sleep in Toriel's bed that night, deciding to talk about what happened tomorrow morning.

And it was only after confirming that Frisk and Toriel were safe and sound asleep, that Asriel was able to sleep soundly himself.


End file.
